Bay County, Phoenix to negotiate on sports park

Tuesday

Jun 20, 2017 at 1:53 PMJun 20, 2017 at 3:18 PM

“I don’t know if we’ll get to $30 (million)," TDC Director Dan Rose said. "But I think it’s worth giving it our best college try to get there, because this is an important asset, an important venue for the county, for the beach, for our continued efforts to diversify tourism.”

JOHN HENDERSON News Herald Reporter @PCNHJohn

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Bay County officials will negotiate with a Lynn Haven firm to try to cut at least $20 million off the proposed price of a new sports park planned for the east end of the Beach.

The Bay County Commission on Tuesday voted to negotiate with Phoenix Construction Services Inc., whose bid of $51.5 million — the lowest offered — was chosen for the project near Breakfast Point. During the meeting, Commissioner Guy Tunnell reiterated the county’s question of why the cost of the park came in so much higher than initially projected. The consultants hired by the Tourist Development Council (TDC), The Sports Force, had estimated a price tag of $30 million to $35 million.

“As (The Sports Force) was designing the park, they were designing it based on their management model,” TDC Director Dan Rowe said. “They are not going to manage the facility.”

The TDC since has changed consulting firms, now working with Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Management, which plans to redesign the park to cut costs.

“They have a different management model,” Rowe said. “And some of the costs that were associated with that initial design we’re going to be able to pull out. There are ways we know we can trim significant costs out of the park.”

County Commissioner Tommy Hamm said he’s sure the price is higher than expected because of the construction specs initially issued on the project.

“Personally, I don’t know that we want to water it down too much, because in my mind this is supposed to be something special, something different,” Hamm said.

Hamm said trying to negotiate the price down with Phoenix can’t hurt. “It’s not going to cost us anything,” he said.

County Commissioner and TDC Chairman Philip “Griff” Griffitts agreed with Hamm, saying the initial specs on the park were “a Rolls Royce-type specs.”

“If we can dial them back to a nice Cadillac, I think we’ll be in good shape, because it can’t mirror Frank Brown” Park, Griffitts said. “It needs to be a state-of-the art facility that is a draw.”

Phoenix Construction was chosen based on a “best value” bid system, allowing commissioners to consider both price and capability of each company.

Rowe said Phoenix Construction owner James Finch made compelling statements to the TDC, asking that he be given a chance to suggest ways to save money on the project.

“It is those discussions that are important,” Rowe said. “I don’t know if we’ll get to $30 (million). But I think it’s worth giving it our best college try to get there, because this is an important asset, an important venue for the county, for the Beach, for our continued efforts to diversify tourism.”

The TDC had hoped to have the park, located between Breakfast Point and Wildwood, open by March 2018 to help offset some of the loss of Spring Break business. The park is slated to offer lacrosse, soccer, softball, baseball, playgrounds, trails for biking or walking and a ropes course.

In other action, the commission approved a contract with Anderson Columbia Co. Inc. for the construction of the Cooks Bayou Bridge on County 2297 in the amount of $8.5 million. The state Department of Transportation is paying for it, but the county is pitching in $426,620 from the new half-cent sales tax revenues for contingency funds. Hamm said the bridge is a good example of how the sales tax money can be levered to secure additional state funds for local projects.

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